Abstract: Dog, though a major companion or pet animal in Nigeria house-hold is kept for various reasons ranging from security, sports and recreation, breeding business and to hunting as well as source of meat. This study was conducted i) to estimate the prevalence of castration in dogs, ii) to determine the influence of breed on the likelihood of castration and iii) to evaluate the reasons for castration using the record of dogs presented to two veterinary practices between January 2006 to December 2010 in Enugu, South-East Nigeria. 327 dogs aged between 1 to 36 months out of the 2112 dogs presented for treatment were castrated during the 5-year retrospective study. The Nigeria local dogs accounted for 64% of the total dogs castrated, followed by crossbreed and then Alsatian with 29% and 5% respectively. Other foreign breeds accounted for 2% of the castrate. The commonest age of castration was 3-6 months (49%) and the minimum age group castrated was the > 1 year age group (8%). The most favoured reason of castration was to increase the body weight (36%), followed by reduction in the straying ability or roaming (24%) and then for increase or decrease in aggression with 14% and 10% respectively. Only 16% of the dogs were castrated for the purpose of preventing in-breeding. In-breeding was achieved in 100% of dogs castrated for this purpose. 87% of dogs had increase in body weight, while roaming and aggression were reduced in 79% and 50% respectively. Increased aggression was seen in 29% of dogs castrated for this purpose. The study showed that breed has a significant (P
Key words: Age, breed, castration, dog, Enugu.
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